Last Legend
by kyuubicle
Summary: He expected to see an engineer sitting at the front desk that probably had one too many hamburgers from the burger joint down the road. Apparently garages had changed since the last time Arthur had entered one. US*UK Steampunk AU
1. The Arrival

**Author's note: **Steam Punk AU. Eventual US*UK. Various pairings will also be included.

**Last Legend**

_Ch 1: The Arrival_

Arthur Kirkland had to admit that life outside his hometown was extremely different. The little town in England Arthur had lived in was mostly hills and trees with a few buildings scattered about the only road the "town" seemed to have. Being as small as it was, it hardly had any communication with the outside world and therefore forgotten by those that didn't live there, save for the few newspapers that told of the rest of the world's advancements. It was nice to know the town was remembered only for the sake of money for the papers.

Arthur was the second youngest of four boys, him being barely in his twenties. He could not honestly say he had even a remote liking of his brothers. His older siblings were loud, obnoxious, crude jerks that took quite a bit of joy in Arthur's emotional and physical pain. The Brit couldn't count how many times he had gotten into drunken brawls with the two over something childish. The youngest sibling hadn't fared as well in terms of a healthy relationship with Arthur either, constantly picking on him and telling him that he would have to bow to his almighty awesome in the near future. At least he was partially tolerable though.

It seemed the only thing keeping Arthur from completely breaking down was his job. He had run something of an antique repair shop, fixing things from old phones to music boxes. He did have quite a talent for it, if he did say so himself. Since he had acquired quite a talent for tedious work with his nimble fingers, he had received a respectable amount of funds and reputation. However, even a hobby gets old when there's not any advancement. With a sufficient amount of money, a suitcase with his personal belongings, and the earliest plane ticket on his persons, Arthur was the first person to leave his hometown in upwards of twenty-five years.

Arthur had read that large cities like New York, London, and Paris all over the world had become even more dependent on technology. There had been progression in all sorts of things! What he had not read about was how positively breathtaking it all was, even if he hadn't yet made it out of the airport. He had landed in the New York Port of Air Travel, Terminal Three at approximately 12:32 PM. The first thing Arthur noticed was how loud it was. Everybody was chatting amongst themselves, on phones, or even yelling at each other in some video game tournament that was being held. The buzz of electronics and the loud sound effects of games and television shows boomed through speakers placed everywhere throughout the whopping ten stories of the building, with Arthur on the third floor. Every couple of floors led to a landing bad for different forms of air travel including planes, blimps, sky ship, hot air balloon, and even jetpacks for those that used the airport for trips across the city for work. You name it, they had it.

The Brit pushed past a crown of people gathered around a screen that was showing a popular cartoon involving robots transforming into cars and planes eating something that vaguely looked like hotdogs smothered in chili, cheese, and other random toppings that shouldn't go together ever. He finally reached the other side of the platform and leaned against the railing. The building itself was cylindrical with walls made of almost nothing but glass windows. Each floor had a giant circular hole in the middle clear up to the domed ceiling, making the building look like a donut if one looked at it from the sky. The only thing that kept people from falling off was a white railing running the perimeter of the hole.

Arthur stumbled backwards when a huge stream of water shot up out of the skylight in the ceiling. A few women in brightly colored, skin tight body suits, funny glasses, and go-go boots gave the Brit amused looks before returning to their previous activities. Arthur blinked his green eyes before following the jet of water with his eyes down to the bottommost floor where his eyes met a magnificent fountain adorned with an enormous brass model of the Earth, complete with continents. Upon further inspection, Arthur noticed there were tiny models of different forms of air transportation revolved around the earth. An even closer look revealed they did so without the use of strings or wires! Huge, decorative-and possibly structural-pillars ran the entire height of the airport. There were seven in total, all spaced out evenly minus the spot needed for the two story glass door across from where Arthur was standing.

Although the airport was spectacular all on its own, the people were another sight to see. There were people from all over the world. That much was obvious seeming as how most were dressed in the attire of their native land. For those that didn't wear that kind of clothing, they all wore something in its own category. There were more people dressed in brightly colored body suits and Arthur could only guess it was some kind of space fad that had gone around. There were a lot of girls with bleach blond hair and bad spray on tans, men in business suits, people in costumes from popular TV shows, and some people wore a mix of engineer attire and mechanical items. Not everyone walking around was human though.

A little over ten years ago, it had become known that the Japanese government had made the first prototype humanoid robot with artificial intelligence. AI had become all the need all over the world and countries raced to make a better version of it, especially Russia and America. In a matter of months, the American government released plans for a better AI robot along with their first prototype. The plans went off without a hitch and soon robots were being mass produced. Most robots had been used for manual labor and household duties without pay at first, but people calling themselves metallic humanoid activists wanted the bots to be able to live their own lives. There was speculation that each bot was different in its own way and that it should be allowed to do whatever it pleased. The United Nations gathered and for a painstaking amount of time tried to figure out if the AI really did make each robot different. After three years, it was decided that robots would have almost as much freedom as humans, but the number of robots had been restricted based on the countries' population. Robots also had a restriction on their age. They could not live any longer than two-hundred years from their production date.

Among the throng of people, robots mingled around. Apparently there were people who were in the middle of being a robot and being a human. A cyborg and a robot near the railing of the fourth floor were comparing their arms, the human transforming his from looking like a fleshy human arm into a drill. In fact, a few cyborgs didn't look like they had any kind of mechanical parts until they transformed. Not only had technology thrived, but it seemed medical science had caught up and intermingled with mech. Arthur vaguely remembered that cyborgs called their equipment autohack since most of their items dealt with computers. A tap on Arthur's shoulder pulled him out of his observations. Arthur turned to see a copper colored robot with a thin build and appendages that seemed to be made of jointed pipe.

"Excuse me sir, are you Arthur Kirkland?" the robot asked seriously. Arthur nodded slowly. "I am a Cybernetic Handcrafted Android Responsible for Logical Exploration and Shipment." The robot stared at Arthur. His eyes reminded the Brit of bicycle reflectors lit up from behind by bulbs only much more intimidating.

"Uh-what?" Arthur asked. The Android said his name was…Cyber-Arthur couldn't even attempt to remember it. The robot let out an exasperated sigh.

"You may call me Charles then. Come on now." The android turned and walked a few steps, motioning for Arthur to follow him.

"So, how did you know who I am?" Arthur asked, curious as to why the robot was leading him through the crowd of people.

"Databases. When you purchased your ticket, your profile was sent through cyberspace. Since you did not have any way of actually leaving the airport, I was assigned to make sure you get to where you needed to go." Charles explained. Arthur furrowed his thick eyebrows.

"What kinds of things did it tell you then?" Charles rolled his eyes and led Arthur to a vacant table in a nearby pizzeria.

"Since you are so keen on asking questions and you don't seem to be in a rush for anything, let's sit." Charles said. Arthur took a seat, surprised a robot could have so much of an attitude. "Your name is Arthur Kirkland. You are 23 years old and you came to America from a town in England that nobody even cares about. You have 3 brothers, blond hair, green eyes, and eyebrows that can only be described as caterpillars. You have a slight frame, but your strength is nothing to scoff it." Charles smirked, or that's what it looked like he was doing.

"Well, anyone would know that about me. You pretty much told me my appearance." Arthur said, touching is eyebrows. Charles rolled his eyes.

"It's not like the world was kept up with your personal bio. You didn't exactly do much through the internet. You've pretty much just existed save for the few times your bio was updated. What would you expect? Someone to keep tabs on you?"

"No." Arthur said sheepishly. Charles stood up and beckoned for Arthur to follow him again. The Brit followed Charles towards a flight of stairs that moved towards the floor below. Arthur followed Charles onto the escalator and they waited for their descent to be made.

"So where do you plan on going?" Charles asked.

"Uh-well, I was hoping to work in repair or something like that. Small scale repair that is…"

"There's not much of a demand for that kind of thing. Most everything is large scale, like holograms and other things like that."

"I figured as much…" Arthur sighed.

"You worked in an antique shop, right?" Charles asked. Arthur nodded. "If you're willing to go a long distance, I think there's a need for carbon daters at a lab in Texas. They work with a lot of little things from way back when. They usually fix the stuff and study how all that old technology worked."

"Texas is kind of…"

"Far? A little under two-thousand miles. You should be able to get there in about a day if we drive." Charles offered. Arthur thought it over. It sounded like it would be what he was looking for. The Brit nodded brightly.

"Is…everywhere as big as this?" the blond stepped off of the escalator behind Charles.

"No. A lot of places are underdeveloped. They still have a lot of the technology but they don't have huge skyscrapers everywhere." Charles explained, leading Arthur to another escalator. It was amazing Arthur hadn't lost Charles in the crowd yet. There were so many people!

Finally the pair made it outside. Charles led Arthur to a parking lot to the left of the airport. The building reflected so much sun that the Brit had to look in the opposite direction to avoid going blind. Arthur guessed the parking lot was filled with service cars so people could get where they had to go.

"Ello ello ello!" Charles started to talk to another bot at a service window. It was a big robot and looked as if it wasn't designed to do anything else but sit there. It reminded Arthur of a really fat bus driver that nobody wanted to ride with. Bernie, as Charles had called it, glared at the slimmer bot before handing over some keys. "Well then. Shall we go?" Arthur nodded and Charles led him into the lot. They passed cars of all sorts. There were muscle cars, little cars, limousines, Bentleys, Jeeps, vans, etc. Charles stopped at a blue Mustang convertible with t-top. He tapped the hood lightly.

"What is that?"

"This, my friend, is what we'll be arriving in." he said brightly. Arthur stared at it.

"Isn't it a little…ostentatious?" Charles' face fell.

"Of course it isn't. Would you rather arrive in a jet pack?" Arthur shook his head. "Well, alright then. Get your British ass in the car before I make you walk to Texas."

"I don't think I've ever met a person with as much of an attitude as you, Charles." Arthur grumbled as he slid into the passenger seat.

"It's in my personality chip. I can't help it, nor do I want to." Charles sighed, throwing Arthur's suitcase into the back seat and sliding into the driver's seat.

"Robots have personality chips?"

"Artificial Intelligence, my dear Arthur. As great as I am without a personality, I was bound to have one. Eventually even I would learn how to react to something, albeit slower than humans. Personality chips made it easier. It also made robots more approachable by humans. That's also why I have facial features." Charles paused. "Humans are funny creatures, you know. They get really uncomfortable around new and unknown things, even if they are the ones that created it. It's strange how if something looks different or acts different, it can pose as a threat." Charles started up the car.

"Can you blame them? Humans are scared of each other after all." Arthur asked. Charles thought about it for a long time. He pulled the car out of its space and started to drive. Arthur guessed he didn't plan on answering the question so he took to staring out the window at the city. It was silent for about thirty minutes, which seemed a little off. Charles seemed like such a chatty robot.

"No." Charles said suddenly.

"Hmm?" Arthur hummed, not turning to look at the driver.

"I don't blame humans for being scared of AI. It is pretty intimidating." Charles said simply. Arthur smiled and closed his eyes. At least he could catch a bit of sleep on a day long car ride.

He was having a wonderful dream. A few faeries had invited him to a tea party where he had a heated political debate with a pink unicorn and a brownie. He also had to give the faeries a stern talking to about the pranks they had begun to pull on the Brit. They had given him floppy rabbit ears and a little fluffy tail. The faeries tried to assure him that it was quite adorable and fitting on him and Arthur didn't have the heart to argue any longer. They spent the rest of the tea party sipping tea and eating crumpets.

"Arthur~ It's time to wake up~!" Arthur groaned and turned away from the voice. Charles frowned. If Arthur wasn't going to wake up, then the robot was just going to have to use force. With that said, Charles pressed down on the horn. Arthur quickly sprang up at the loud ear-splitting blast of the horn.

"WHAT?" Arthur screamed. He subconsciously pulled his hands to his head to check for ears and glanced at his rear end to make sure he was tail-free. Which he was.

"Good morning, Love. Glad to see you've joined the world of the living." Charles said. Arthur glared at him. "It seems we've broken down."

"You're a robot. Can't you fix it?" Wrong thing to say.

"I will have to know that I am a Cybernetic Handcrafted Android Responsible for Logical Exploration and Shipment!" Charles exploded, "I am not a Synthetic Technician Engineered for Fastening and Accurate Nailing! In simpler terms, I am not programmed, nor am I equipped, to fix a car! All I am programmed to do is drive!" Charles pulled himself out of the car and slammed the door. Arthur followed suit.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Arthur asked angrily. Charles spun around.

"How about you walk into that there service station?" Charles pointed at the building they conveniently broke down in front of.

"And you can't because…?"

"Why, it's not in my programming." Charles said sweetly, "I plan on staying with the car. I don't trust you with it so get help, okay?" Arthur threw his arms up in defeat.

"Fine! I'll be right back!"

He had expected the garage to be some dirty room smelling of exhaust and iron. He expected there to be a few mechanics slaving over car engines that refused to start back up or replacing flat tires. There would probably be oil stains and paper scattered about a concrete floor and tires stacked in the corner. He expected to see an engineer sitting at the front desk that probably had one too many hamburgers from the burger joint down the road. Apparently garages had changed since the last time Arthur had entered one.

A little bell rang when Arthur opened the door.

"Gimme a minute!" a voice yelled from somewhere in the back. "Just take a seat! I'll be out in a minute so don't go anywhere!" There was a loud crashing sound followed by a string of curses Arthur recognized as German. The Brit took a seat on a couch in what he assumed was the waiting area, not giving the crashing so much as a second thought. The garage itself was pretty big, with a high ceiling and open space. There was an entire was entire wall of tools and gadgets ranging from drill bits to semi-automatic hand guns. There was an entire shelf of just duct tape, organized by thickness, color, and durability. There were four work tables with projects in progress on them. There was a metal arm on one table, and the other three had frameworks for other things. Papers, blueprints, pencils, and models scattered about the entire area. A few kites lay on a table in the corner and a motorcycle sat next to them.

_BAM!_

A loud sound erupted from behind a door to the right side of the back wall of the building. Arthur stood up quickly. Suddenly, the door flew open and a frazzled looking blond quickly stumbled out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him and scrambling for cover under a table. Arthur gave him a curious look; confused as to why the boy was so panic-stricken. A large explosion behind the door made it balloon outwards before flying off its hinges. It was comical really how it managed to stay on that tiny bit of width to keep in upright as it crashed through one of the project tables and into the wall just feet from where Arthur had been standing.

"C'mon, Gilbert! I didn't even do anything to it!" the blond whined, readjusting his glasses. He glanced at the broken table. "Aw man! I was gonna work on that today!"

"Fuck you! You pretty much broke it! Who the hell makes tools that look like other tools?" Gilbert yelled in a thick German accent, his red eyes blazing as he stepped into the work space. One look at him told Arthur he was albino. The same look told him that Gilbert was completely human, if the grenade launching machine gun that replaced his right arm was any indication.

"Well obviously I do!" the blond said, "Besides! You have your own tools! Don't use mine!"

"You know what, Al? I swear to god I'm going to wipe that god damn smirk right off that pretty little face of yours!" the albino yelled, stomping over to the other boy's table of safety. He yanked the boy up by the collar of his tank top. Al seemed to be unaffected by it and continued to give the German a very smug grin.

"I'd like to see you try, Gil. You're all talk and you don't have anything to back it up." Gilbert shoved his menacing arm in Al's face.

"Does this really look like something I can't back it up with?"

"Since I know you broke it, then yes. I'd have to say you can't back it up." The blond said. Arthur noted how one single strand seemed to stick up. How odd…

"It seemed to do just fine when I blasted that door off its damn hinges!"

"Which you're fixing by the way." The two continued to glare at each other, red rivaling blue in the ultimate staring contest. The intensity of it just seemed like they were trying to kill each other with looks alone.

"Excuse me?" Arthur asked. Both boys halted their glaring and turned their heads towards the Brit. The white-haired boy dropped the blond and stalked towards Arthur. He didn't actually acknowledge him, he just grabbed the door, which had left an imprint in the plaster, and walked back to the room he had entered in. The blond straightened his clothes, smoothed his hair, and pushed his glasses back up his nose before he moseyed on over to the front desk. He promptly leaned on it and put on a huge grin.

"Heya. The name's Alfred. How can I help ya?"


	2. Friends

**Last Legend**

_Ch 2: Friends_

The blond continued to grin at Arthur for a good solid minute. He only stopped when he realized the Brit hadn't said anything and continued to gape at him.

"Hey, dude? Are you still with me?" Alfred asked, waving a hand in front of Arthur's face, which had quickly been swatted away. Alfred looked the customer-if that's what he was-up and down. He didn't look like he was from around here. In fact, he didn't even look like he had even been to America at all. He was much too…clean…

"That guy was trying to kill you." Arthur stated dryly, glancing at the doorway that was missing its door. The mechanic blinked. Arthur shuffled his feet. Why would someone want to have something that destructive actually built in them? (Okay, Arthur knew it was likely for power or something like that, but still.) It was ridiculous, not to mention dangerous! And the worst thing about it was this kid seemed completely unaltered by the thought that it could be used to completely obliterate him within seconds!

"Well…uh, yea?" Alfred scratched the back of his neck. Arthur scoffed. "Would it make you feel better if I said he always did that?"

"How the hell is that supposed to make me feel better?" the Brit yelled. Alfred shrugged. "What on earth took the place of his arm anyways? He blew a door clear across the room!"

"Auto-hack?" Alfred laughed. "Gil's not dangerous, dude. He's just-"

"Arthur." The shorter man interrupted.

"Hmm?"

"My name. It's Arthur, twit. Not dude."

"Okay._ Arthur_ then. I wouldn't be too shaken up by Gilbert. He's always kinda animated, y'know? It's not like he'll mess with you." The mechanic explained before spinning around to the doorway, "Unless he uses your tools and breaks his own arm and decides to blame it on you!"

"Go to hell, you fucker!" a voice yelled back, obviously Gilbert.

Alfred rolled his blue eyes and yelled back an insult. Arthur took it as an opportunity to take in the man that would be helping him, not noticing Alfred had already returned his attention to him and was now talking to him. "Anyway, some sure fire ways to stay off Gil's bad side-" He was taller, only by a few inches, but he was obviously younger than himself. Around twenty most likely. He was quite well built and had so pretty big muscles; it was safe to say he worked out a good deal, but it wasn't so overdone that it looked bad. "-but don't ever bring up that fact that-" It was quite the opposite now that he thought about it. It seemed like every inch of him had been perfectly tanned too, his shoulders and arms being slightly sunburned, but other than that it was perfect. Had Arthur actually known him, he would have scolded him for not wearing proper protection when going into the sun. "And if he ever says-"He was definitely a lot darker than Arthur to say the least. The Brit was practically pale as a ghost. He didn't tan. He burned no matter what. "But don't ever tell him-" Alfred laughed. He looked pretty funny with that lopsided grin that seemed to fit him so perfectly. Arthur noticed it seemed like his whole face lit up. Wait-wasn't Alfred telling him something important? "…and those are a few important things to know so none of the other people here accidentally attack you or something!" Alfred said with a hearty laugh, slapping the wooden desk with a loud _thud_, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts. "Think ya can remember that?" _Damn it_.

"Uhm-yes. Of course!" Arthur lied. He hadn't caught a single bit of what he should or shouldn't do, but he'd figure it out. Hopefully before he did anything on the 'shouldn't' list.

"Anyways, what cha need help with? I'm assuming car troubles?" Arthur nodded. "Alrighty! You ain't too far off right? You at least know where your car is?" The mechanic began rifling through the drawers of the desk, throwing some paperwork to the side, mumbling something about keys.

"It's actually right outside. Like right in front of the door."

"Hmm? Oh! Cool! So I don't have to go get it? Awesome!" Alfred grinned, straightening back up and starting for the door. "So, if ya don't mind me askin', are you travelling alone or what? Because you don't look like the type to drive into the middle of the Outlands." Outlands? _I'm assuming that's what this area is then._

"No, I have someone with me. We just met so he's kind of…escorting me?" Arthur said carefully, not entirely sure on how to word it without being rude to Charles. He wasn't sure if it was polite or not to just say he was travelling with a robot he just met a few hours ago. Alfred nodded and opened the door, beckoning for Arthur to take him to the broken down vehicle.

"Whoa! No way! You took _that_! _That's _your ride?" Alfred practically yelled, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared Arthur's mode of transportation. Arthur nodded slowly. Alfred flung an arm in the air. "No way! You have no idea how cool these were back in their time! Do you know how hard it is to actually find one of these?" Arthur shook his head. "It's pretty damn hard! If only you had it in red! That would be so freaking awesome! You'd never be able to leave! But blue is like the next best thing!"

"I'll take your word for it then." Because honestly, Arthur didn't care much for cars. Only when they were taking him from point A to point B did they really matter. But Alfred seemed to care a lot. Charles stepped out from behind the other side of the car, a look of satisfaction twisted on his metal face.

"Hmmm. It is a pretty cool car, isn't it?" Charles said with an air that said he already knew it was cool. "Too bad they don't make things like this anymore."

"Dude. How did you even get one? Let alone drive it? These things are practically extinct!" Alfred babbled, his eyes practically glowing. Nope, that was the sun. Definitely. There's no way a person could have eyes that shined that much.

"Well, since I'm the one that basically found it, I pretty much get to use it…for jobs and stuff. It was in such bad shape too. Do you know how hard it was to find plans for this thing to fix it up? Talk about a challenge! It's hardly ever included in any bot's databases anymore! I had to track down the one bot that actually had it and his coding was all over the place! I think someone must have jogged a wire or erased a bit of his chip, but I got it." Charles bragged. _Does that mean it's going to be hard to fix? _Arthur half wondered. He doubted the bot had plans with him after all.

"No way! You actually got those plans? That must've taken ages!" Alfred said, slightly in awe. Arthur shuffled his feet. He had no clue how to partake in this conversation without sounding like an idiot. Perhaps if he didn't?

"It did! But of course I was able to make a few adjustments to the original design to make it a bit more practical in this day and age. Like engine changes and stuff like that. Horsepower is through the roof too!"

"No way! I thought the horsepower was already awesome! What about the zero to sixty?"

"Let's just say, this thing has so much power, that there isn't a time for the zero to sixty."

"There's always a zero to sixty, dude. You have to build up some kind of momentum. There's no way you can just take off." Alfred said in disbelief.

"Ah, you underestimate the power of technology these days. Especially when the superior mind of a bot has their hand at it." Charles smirked in that cocky robotic way of his, "Something an Outlander like you wouldn't understand. After all, most of you have only the basics out here, save for a few items." Alfred looked partially offended, but still smiled.

"Uhm-the color you repainted it is nice." Arthur mumbled, mentally slapping himself for how stupid that actually sounded. He half remembered getting beat up by his older brothers for making a comment about a color when they talked about some cars in an old magazine, even though he had meant something else at the time. Oh, when would the Brit learn? Charles and Alfred both stared at the Brit as if he had sprouted another head, succeeding in only making Arthur feel worse.

"Dude! That is such a girly thing to comment on!" Alfred snorted.

"You don't talk color when you talk power!" Charles snickered, a bit of a mechanical twist on it, but not by much. Arthur felt his face heat up as his rage increased. Seriously! Guys could be such…guys! Mechanical or not! The Brit wanted to sink trough the sand, through the earth's crust, mantle, and core all the way to the other side of the planet. They didn't have to laugh at him over something so stupid anyways! They continued laughing…and laughed some more after that, Alfred doubled over in pain and pleasure, apparently doing it so hard that it hurt. Charles had gained a bit of self control, but was now laughing at Alfred's inability to stop his fit. Arthur cursed the day personality chips were made. How he was going to make Charles pay.

"You can stop laughing now…it wasn't that funny…" Arthur groaned. The blue-eyed blond straightened up, wiping a tear from his has face and taking deep breaths, still chuckling at the shorter man.

"I'm so sorry, dude. But really, I haven't even gotten a comment like that from Elizabeta, and she's actually a girl!" Alfred snickered a bit, " 'm sorry, alright? It's just-"

"You commented on the color earlier too." Arthur pouted. Alfred raised his eyebrows.

"Yea, but that was before I-" Alfred cut himself off, knowing full well that he had in fact commented on it earlier. Best to make the Brit feel better anyways. The last thing he needed was for something to happen that would involve fending off a Ratroach in the middle of the Outlands. "Okay. I'm sorry then. No need to get so upset over it."

"I'm not! I'm mad, not upset, you stupid git!" Arthur frowned. Alfred shrugged. This guy's easy-going attitude about everything was really ticking the Brit off. He really did not think he could stand much more of it.

"Okay! Let's go ahead and get this thing on in there! It shouldn't be too much of a problem after all!" He made his way to the rear end of the car. "Just gotta push it around to the side and we'll be all good! Put it in neutral, will ya?"

It took a good forty-five minutes to get the car to the side of the building, but it was not because it was a tough move or anything. A good portion of that time was spent arguing, like forty minutes of it was spent fighting. Alfred insisted he could move the car on his own and Arthur told Alfred off for not letting him help, saying Alfred was crazy if he thought he could move it on his own. (The thing weighed more than a ton!) Alfred had retorted that he had plenty of strength to do it himself and all Arthur would do was get in the way. Plus the car was in neutral so it would be fine. That had only succeeded in making Arthur extremely mad and the Brit stormed off, Alfred chasing after him, both of them yelling and cursing at each other. Charles sat back during the entire ordeal, knowing full well that he could move the car on his own if the two had just asked him too. Well, since the two had decided to leave, Charles just decided to pull the car into the garage for them. They were just wasting time anyways, not that Charles cared. He wasn't in any kind of hurry.

"Seriously…they've known each other five minutes and they're fighting like a married couple." Charles groaned, dragging the car behind himself. It was great being a bot that had almost no limits, save for a bit of programming and upgrades he hadn't had the chance to install. After bringing in the car, Charles made himself comfortable and grabbed some reading material. Something told him that his British friend and the mechanic wouldn't be back for a while.

"Look, Artie! I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to say you were going to be trouble or anything!" Alfred whined, "It's just I'm used to doing things on my own! Besides! You're hiring me so I don't really expect you to help!"

"My name is Arthur, you idiot! And quit following me! I hate you so leave me alone!" Arthur yelled over his shoulder. "All I did was offer my help! You didn't have to shrug me off so easily!"

"Just what are you intending to do, hah? Walk through the Outlands until you get where you want to be?"

"Pretty much!"

"It doesn't work that way!"

"Says you!" The garage was slowly being put further and further behind them, and Alfred was seriously getting a little distressed. The Outlands was not the safest place to be! It was a land of extremes in everything!

"It's the truth! You can't just go stalking off because you're mad! Especially without water or protection!" Alfred groaned, "You have no idea what it's like at night either! It's really bad, Arthur! There are certain things that you just can't handle."

"Yea! Okay! When I need protection from a rock, I'll call you!" Arthur huffed, "Quit following me! This is the hundredth time I've said this! Get it through your thick skull, you brat! I don't want you anywhere near me!"

"And this is the hundredth time I've apologized! I'm telling you that you don't want to be out here! Things are literally mutated in the Outlands! You can't possibly think you'll be safe._ I_ wouldn't even be okay on my own!" There were monsters in the Outlands, mutated through the years of radiation and the poor environment of the whole place. The only people that stood a chance out here on their own were those with pretty advanced autohack! And even then, there's no way they could take on an entire pack of even the least brutal of all the creatures.

"Quit talking to me! I'm tired of you! And I can handle myself just bloody well fine!" Arthur yelled, picking up the pace. Alfred followed suit and sped up just enough to get around to the front of the angry Brit to make him to stop.

"Listen to me. There are things out here that are just not supposed to exist. Things that you couldn't even think of. They aren't friendly, Arthur. There are even people out there that will take you. They won't care if they hurt you or do whatever to you. What kind of a hero would I be if I just let you stay out here?" Alfred explained seriously. It was easy to tell he was not joking about this at all. Arthur let out a frustrated sigh and stared at a nearby rock. The dumb bloke obviously wasn't going to leave him alone.

"So how long will it take to fix the car?" Arthur grumbled, spinning on his heel.

"That's-uh…difficult to say. It depends on what's wrong with it. I don't actually know my way around a Mustang, let alone one redone by a bot. I don't want to rip everything apart if I knock somethin' loose, y'know? It'd be a real pain and take even longer."

"Mmm."

"Well, yea. But don't worry! I'll have you outta here in no time at all! It shouldn't be too hard to figure out anyways! Your bot will probably be able to help if he still has the program in his head! Like, run on memory and stuff. 'Cause they pretty much have photographic memory."

Arthur sighed. "If you say so."

"Don't worry! There's this really cool thing we can do where we hook him up to a computer and search the database for our self so he doesn't have to do it! Well…assuming I have the right plug. Come to think of it…I haven't actually gotten any new ones…and he seems like a bot that wouldn't…uhm…actually I don't know if I have a cord to do that with…" Arthur gave him an exasperated look. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! I'll still get it! Heroes don't fail over little things like that anyways!"

"Do you have any aloe at your workshop?" Arthur asked, changing the subject. He could feel the sunburn already on his face and neck. The prices you pay for living in a country with no rain and being outside for almost two hours.

"Uhh-" the American rubbed at the back of his neck.

"I'm going to assume that's a no." Arthur sighed. Alfred shrugged apologetically.

"Elizabeta might have some I think. She has lots of stuff." Alfred offered. "She's nicer than Gilbert, don't worry. I think she'd like you! She only has me and Gilbert to talk to and she doesn't get along well with Gilbert most of the time. Well, she goes into town a lot more than we do too, so she does talk to more people…oh! But the aloe thing! Yea. She'll probably have some! I think Gilbert might too, because he burns worse than you do. But, don't tell him I told you that. He gets all defensive about it because he doesn't like to admit he needs that stuff."

"I don't see why he would be embarrassed. Guys burn just as bad as girls."

"He doesn't believe someone as awesome as him needs that kind of stuff. Something about awesome giving him a stronger immune system or something like that." Both men rolled their eyes. "You burn pretty easily. We've only been out here for like, not even two hours!"

"There isn't much sun where I come from, so I beg pardon if I hadn't had the chance to get out much." Arthur scowled. "Besides, you're burned too. Though you were already like that."

"I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's kinda…uh…well your face is all red so." Alfred furrowed his eyebrows. Arthur sent him a look which was avoided at all costs. Never had Alfred been so happy to hear a mini explosion go off in his workshop. He pushed the door open and braced himself for whatever trouble (Gilbert) managed to (cause) happen this time. Charles was currently sitting in a chair reading a book on different kinds of gears. In the back of the workshop however, Gilbert was at a semi-complete autohack form at one side of the space. Both arms were transformed into a full-fledged weapons, each being something different but equally deadly. Alfred groaned. It was another one of _those_ fights. Fantastic. "So you wanted some aloe right?"

"Dammit Elizabeta! Will you take a damn…what the hell is going to get you to stop being so annoying?" Gilbert yelled. "And so damn moody and violent?" At the opposite end of the room was a girl with long, wavy brown hair, tan skin, and green eyes. She was currently in a similar form as the albino across from her; one arm had been converted to autohack, looking like a giant hammer with compartments for random projectiles and computer pads and coming out of her right shoulder was something of a gun with some kind of laser that locked onto targets, currently locked onto the center of Gilbert's forehead.

"Not until you admit that you were wrong, Gilbert!" she yelled back. "And I'm not moody! The only reason I'm moody is because you're the one instigating fights!"

"The awesome me is never wrong! I'm not going to admit something that is damaging to my name when it's definitely not true! It was your fault to begin with!" Gilbert launched an attack, leaping quickly to the left and shooting another one of his mini grenades at the woman. "And I'm not gonna let some chick think she can get away with starting the whole thing in the first place! 'the hell are you talking about I instigate them?" Arthur quickly took cover behind Alfred, avoiding the onslaught of papers that exploded all over the place with the albino's attack. Charles listlessly brushed a few of the sheets that landed on him to the floor, sighing slightly before returning to his book. Alfred threw an apologetic smile to the cowering Brit.

"Don't worry. They don't really try to hurt anyone when it gets like this. The worst that'll happen is a few paper cuts."

"That's not any better!" Arthur screamed over the havoc. Elizabeta had somehow managed to put Gilbert in a head lock, with her normal arm, screaming random nonsense to the German. This was aggravating! The whole thing! The first time he comes in contact with something like this and all he sees is destruction! Autohack was made out to be something so great in magazines and books, to help people to things or replace limbs to make life easier and stuff like that! How could people do this to themselves?

"Artie. Really. Chill out. It's nothin' to really be afraid of. I'm tellin' you." Alfred assured him. Gilbert had gotten free, but accidentally shot off a grenade closer to the two humans for even Alfred's comfort. It hit a box of random objects and sent them sailing through the air, a few landing next to Alfred's feet. He shrugged it off and kicked a box of paperclips towards the desk.

"Chill out? You expect me to chill out with all of that happening?" Arthur bellowed, gesturing at the fight taking place. Elizabeta fired something at Gilbert. Arthur guessed it was some kind of net, but didn't care enough to take a closer look. "This is stupid! You're stupid! You're too stupid to realize they could kill each other, or themselves, or anybody around who might just happen to be there, like you or me or anybody else! Someone could get seriously hurt and you're telling me to chill out? Chill out? You aren't reacting to this at all! You're too chilled out for your own bloody good! I hate this! I hate all of this! I hate your stupid autohack! I hate everything about this place!"

"Not all autohack is used like that, Arthur." Alfred explained. Arthur scoffed at him.

"It's all bad. I don't care what it's being used for! To want to do _that_," he gestured at Alfred's work mates, "to your own body is just not right! I can't stand this!" Arthur was overreacting. He knew he was overreacting. Charles was right about humans. They really are scared of things that they just can't seem to grasp, and Arthur didn't care that he was one of them.

"Like I said, you can't group it all-"

"Yes! The awesome me is victorious once again!" Gilbert suddenly yelled. Both blonds and Charles looked over at them. Gilbert was closest to the floor, his head being squished into the cement by the woman he had been sparring with. Both had dropped their autohack forms though, so they both looked normal at the moment. Well, as normal as you could be while fighting.

"What the hell are you talking about? _I'm_ the one pinning _you_ down, stupid!" Elizabeta argued. Gilbert made a breathy sound and mumbled low. Elizabeta pushed down harder. "What was that, Gilbert? Why don't you speak up?"

"Oi! Alfred! Help me out! Hungarians are scary after all!" he yelled. Alfred sighed and shook his head. Elizabeta looked up, her green eyes meeting Arthur's own. Her face flashed-though Arthur couldn't place the emotion-and she was suddenly standing right in front of him. They were about the same height, him being only slightly taller and she was staring at him with the utmost interest.

"Eh-Al! Who's this? He's so cute!" she squealed, a bit of amusement on her face. "He's like, an absolute doll!" Arthur sent Alfred a helpless look. "Oh goodness! You're just so adorable! Y'know what I think? I think you and Alf-" She was suddenly interrupted by Alfred, who felt it necessary to clamp a hand over her mouth. He had a smile plastered on his face, but it was easy to tell he was not happy.

"Don't say anything weird, Elizabeta. He's just here for a few days until I fix his car." he groaned. Elizabeta pried his hand off her face, shooting an annoyed glare at the American. She stuck her hand out in front of her towards Arthur.

"I'm Elizabeta! I'm one of the mechanics here, pleased to meet you!" she said happily. Arthur hesitated in shaking her hand and backed up a little bit. She noticed unfortunately. "Hmm? I don't bite. I promise! You aren't scared of me, are you?"

"Well, you were just having an epic battle with Gilbert. And randomly called him cute. That would be enough to scare anyone. Probably came on a little too strong." Alfred joked, picking up a few things from the floor and throwing them in a nearby box. "That's Arthur and his bot friend over there is Charles." Alfred gestured at each one respectively, "And that baby over there is their ride." He gestured to the car in the back.

"…it's nice. I like the color of it." Elizabeta commented, not caring about the car itself. Alfred and Charles snorted. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothin'. It's just…nothin'. Never mind. You had to be there." Alfred grinned, waving his hand at her. Elizabeta rolled her eyes. A beep sounded out and Alfred glanced up at a clock near the desk, slapping the alarm on it after reading it. "Oh! I gotta go do something real quick!" He took a few steps towards a door but turned around so he could walk backwards. "I'll be right back. Can you show Artie and Charles to a spare room or somethin', Eliza? I'd do it myself, but this might take some time and I don't want them to just stand around." And with that, Alfred walked into a room and shut the door behind himself.

"That was a little…" Arthur started. _Hasty?_

"I wouldn't worry about, Alfred! Now, I'm sure you both would like to know where you're staying so come with me!" Elizabeta smiled warmly. The Hungarian woman led the two to a doorway, the same doorway which Gilbert had blown the door off of, and took them up a spiral staircase. "It's one of our storage-type rooms, so you might have to bear with a slight mess. Alfred is up there a lot, so don't mind any hamburger wrappers you find. He's a little messy but who knows, maybe he's cleaned it up." she giggled. "I think you guys will really like it! It's rather pretty if you're into that kind of stuff."

Arthur and Charles shared a confused look with each other. "Uhm-what kind of stuff?" Alfred seemed kind of dense so…it was probably something stupid like whatever he was into. The staircase ended and they were on a large landing. There were more boxes, shelves, and cabinets that lined the walls. If there wasn't a door, something took up the wall space. A lot of pictures hung on the wall too. Mainly photographs of the residents. A couple of them caught Arthur's eye.

In one, Alfred was standing in front of a fighter plane with a person who had an uncanny resemblance to him; Arthur guessed it was his brother. He laughed to himself when he noticed Alfred had the poor kid in a headlock and was giving him a noogie. They were both laughing. In the bottom, right hand corner were the words "Me and Mattie" in curvy, sloppy handwriting. Most of the pictures near it had the same duo laughing and smiling in front of other large monuments, important buildings, mountains, or working on something mechanical. A few steps down hung a few pictures of Alfred and Gilbert, where they were mostly teasing each other, some of them had Alfred, Elizabeta, and Gilbert. There was a picture of Gilbert with some macho man with his hair slicked back, Elizabeta had obviously been in a relationship at some point, if the pictures of her cuddling with a brunette man-who had a piece of hair sticking up much like Alfred's…in fact they both wore glasses too-was any indication. Arthur thought it best not to pry so he didn't ask. Arthur's eye found another picture a little closer to the ground. He hunched over to get a better look.

"They're really something aren't they?" Elizabeta asked, leaning down next to Arthur to look at the same picture as him. It was another one of Alfred and Mattie, a goofy picture of the two taken by Alfred, who had the camera at arm's length to take it. "That's Matthew, Alfred's brother." she said, pointing at the second blond. "It was Matthew's last day here and he and Alfred spent most of the time with each other, taking goofy pictures like that and just having fun. The day this picture was taken and all"

"It looks like they were close. I'm not close to any of my brothers." Again, Arthur wanted to ask what Matthew went off to do, but as a gentleman he didn't.

"They were." the woman smiled to herself, touching the glass protecting the frame. She quickly wiped her face with the back of her hand and pulled herself upright. "Well, how about that room? It's right over here."

"So, what kinds of things are actually in there?" Charles asked, bringing up the subject again.

"I think it'd be better if you saw for yourselves. It's best if I don't try to explain it. It's really Alfred's thing and I'd probably ruin it by trying to explain it. Ah! And here we are!" The group was now way the at the end of the landing at a set of double doors painted red.

**Author's Note:** Huuu…sorry it took me so long to update. I was moving to a new house and then I get really lazy. I'm lazy in general so…you're lucky to have gotten a new chapter! Thanks to all the people who added this to their favorites and subscriptions lists. That's pretty cool so, thanks! I feel like this takes place in such a weird setting that the characters are ooc.

Don't forget to _Read & Review!_


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